FORMER Liverpool FC assistant manager Sammy Lee has been placed in temporary control of Bolton Wanderers following the sacking of Owen Coyle.

Coyle was dismissed by the Championship side after a poor start to the new campaign.

Following relegation from the Premier League last season, the Trotters have taken just 11 points from their opening 10 matches, and sit 18th in the Championship, three points above the relegation places.

A 2-1 defeat at Millwall last weekend was the final game for the Scot, who arrived at the club from Burnley in 2010.

Lee, who had a brief, unsuccessful spell as manager at the Reebok Stadium in 2007, will take interim charge, along with youth-team coach Jimmy Phillips, as chairman Phil Gartside begins the search for a permanent replacement.

The 53-year-old Lee is currently Wanderers' Head of Academy Coaching, having left Liverpool by mutual consent in the summer of 2011.